I for one enjoy Ramadan, you get to see a lot of family and friends, but in our case we have a lot of dewaneyas to visit. The amount of work really hasn’t changed much and I usually leave work between 4:30 and 5:00 pm and I get up around 8:30 am. Somedays I get back home by 3:30 pm so I get to have a lot of time to relax, play some video games and sometimes go for a walk before futoor.
After futoor gets a bit hectic at times, some times we have futoor at home and other times we visit family for futoor. After isha prayer we meet up with our family, the men’s side, and then we visit dewaneyah to dewaneyah. Its been this schedule since the beginning of Ramadan, we may cover about 8 to 13 dewaneyahs a night. Men’s visits are light and easy, you go in, you say hello to people for Ramadan, trying to go to certain areas where all the dewanyahs are open at the same time such De’eyah, Bnaid Al Gar, Khaldiya, Shuweikh, and other locations. Its a long process and very time consuming but I always think that its once a year and you get to see some people you haven’t seen for a while. I know that this schedule isn’t for everyone but I do get some enjoyment out of it, and for the past week we have gotten a day or two off. It seems I do more work after the sun sets then before, and then I head home around 11:30 pm to watch an hour or two of tv shows and enjoy my subway sandwich before passing out.
While in Dubai my cousin (lets call him Druss) recommended we go to the shooting range, it was four of us, three wanted to go and one was being stubborn but in the end he got stuck with us and went. One of my cousins (Druss) kept on saying how he learned how to shoot while fighting in the Gulf War, he fought in Kuwait and in the US military and the types of pistols he had. I was a kid then my brother was in his early teens so we didn’t have any military exeperience at that point. So we were on the way there and he kept talking about his skills as a shooter.
As soon as we got there, we took 50 9mm bullets each with Czech gun, it was a nice shooting range but the one in Kuwait is much much better. Getting a gun in my hand surprisingly felt good, I put the bullets in the clip, pushed it in, switched off the safety and shoot like I was in lethal weapon. I enjoy shooting because I think that my Halo skills make me that much better, and I can shoot one handed or two handed in different ways just to enjoy myself. My goal isn’t just to hit the target but to try different ways of shooting which are within reason.
Then my cousin (Druss) who was very confident of himself proposed a competition between the four of us, and the loser would pay for dinner. I knew I wasn’t going to be the loser in this bunch but what next I wasn’t expecting. The next 25 bullets we were in competition mode, so we shot with our best aim, I wanted to take pictures so I loaded two clips and shot like I was Danny Glover in Predator 2, nonstop until I emptied each clip, then the last clip with 5 bullets and shot those one handed and started taking pictures right away. The gun barrel was pretty damn hot after shooting consecutively and I was very happy with the results.
In competition mode these gentlemen only counted the points which hit in the black target area. Once it was done all you kept hearing was Druss complaining that these guys didn’t know their math, and don’t know how to score on these boards. We were all treated with the same criteria, I honestly surprised myself as I was clowning around a bit and it seems my hours playing Halo had its results. And as expected the loser had to pay for dinner, and such a bitter defeat for him, with so much experience yet losing miserably.
Ranking By Points:
1 – Tiny @ 187
2 – Me @ 182
3 – FirstTimer @ 144
4 – Druss @ 132
(Did I feel like a cop in a movie in the shooting range, yes I did, and on another note the shooting range in Kuwait is better with more variety of fire arms and weapons)
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After a long week and one annoying meeting I had to attend in Dubai, I decided to take one small break which would take place on Friday. Met up with my cousin in Dubai while he was there with his family we decided to have a movie day on Friday, all day. Came in late Thursday night, the plane to Dubai was packed and so was the plane to Beirut, in the Wataniya Airways Lounge in Kuwait I kept saying hello to people. As soon as I landed I headed straight to The Address Downtown Dubai, which was also filled with Kuwaities. Had a light dinner and passed out, I knew I had a lot I wanted to do the next day.
We had a full day planned out which worked out perfectly, I wanted to try out the Chinese Restaurant in The Address called HAKUMU but I didn’t have a chance
Simple Full Day:
- 2:00 pm Fat Burger Lunch
- Walking Around
- 3:40 pm Green Zone – Platinum Cinema
- Going to Bookstore then Walking Around
- 6:45 pm Shutter Island
- 9:30 pm Dinner @ Japengo
- 11:10 pm Avatar (For the second time and loved it)
I tried sticking to the diet, I had just a little too much food but didn’t have any soda. I will make up for this week but taking a break one day isn’t bad. After all that we passed out around 3:30 am but a very satisfying and fun day, we never had to leave the mall.
The last few weeks me and a few of my cousins have a ritual with Battlestar Galactica, we are watching Season 4 all together as much as possible. We gather at this place to watch and Season 4 has become a hectic season for me, for some reason I wanted to find the right time to watch it all and not be bothered by anyone. He has a nice movie room setup with the right combination of equipment, and we are watching Battlestar Galactica on Blu-Ray which looks really good.
What he likes to have ready on the table is an assortment of candies, popcorns, and snacks to be eaten during the whole event. I got there around 3:30 pm and we started watching right away as another cousin joined as later. I had my spot on the couch which was very comfortable as we watch the cylons go to war and everything going wrong on Galactica, this is one crazy season. I’m happy I waited to watch it with the right people who would appreciate BSG and I’m enjoying every moment of it.
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Over the past couple of months I have been frequenting hospitals, sometimes in the ICU and other times in different wards. I don’t know how much longer Kuwait can go on like this without having a new hospital. All these hospitals just refurbishing the front of the building and taking donations for the wards on all the different floors. Amiri hospital has been fixing its wing for the past two years and the same thing for the elevator without any results, does it really take that long? I have to say that there are some really good doctors in the hospitals but you can even tell they are mistreated, and they bring in mediocre doctors from outside of Kuwait for the sake of quantity and on contract so they can use them as they please. The worst is the Ministry with their permits, there are private hospitals who want to get better equipment but they aren’t given the permit for it even though it is extremely beneficial for all people, I have heard of private institutions in Kuwait who works in government doctors to scan their patients at their facilities when its an important case or the wait is too long at the government facilities, an example is the MRI scanner, a private institution wants to pay for a high end MRI scanner but the government won’t let them for one reason or another except the same as their’s which is of lower quality, a high quality MRI scanner means better details and being able to see things clearer.
The nursing is another blunder which is appalling in Kuwait, the most important part of the successful surgery is the recovery which involves nursing and their is no adequate nurse training in Kuwait or advanced care.
I think all this frustration stems from what I have been dealing with as well as the cases I see in front of me when I am in the hospital. Most hospitals feel like military bunkers with tiny windows and are depressing in Kuwait. Politics takes a precedence over real medical care and you can see that clearly but for how much longer.
Recently my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital due to health reasons, and she passed away in the early hours of Friday morning. I woke up and saw a few missed calls and texts on my phone which alarmed me. I spoke on the phone and had a feeling something was wrong, I got the news and knew what I had to do but I didn’t have to be anywhere for a few hours. So I sat on my chair for about an hour not really doing anything but thinking.
Took off to my grandmothers house to find a lot of family there, I don’t know how to describe the atmosphere. I gave my condolences to the family, and I was just waiting to know what was going to happen next. I was remembering all our Ramadans in her house, it was always a lot of fun, and I was always a stubborn kid, I wanted to be seated close to the chicken on the dining table. We had a bite to eat before going to the cemetery in Sulaibakhaat.
Everyone was feeling sad to one degree or another, but it hit me really hard when we were burying her. I just got a flood of tears and tried to keep it together for the 3aza. That is one of the things that I do appreciate about Kuwait, a lot of people care for one reason or another but a lot of people want to support you. She was a wife, a sister, a mother to many of us, her kindness really knew no limit. May she rest in peace.
WoW or World of Warcraft has a huge fan base all over the world, and I think my cousin is one of the biggest fans. I did enjoy playing some WoW but not even close to the hard core fans. My cousin pretty much ditched our usual Saturday chilling session to dedicate all possible time in the day to the new Expansion Pack of WoW, The Wrath of the Lich King, and I do mean all possible time. He even got in line for the Thursday release at Virgin but turns out it was the US version and not the Euro version that he needed, so he is getting it Saturday. I don’t doubt if he takes time off work, WoW fans are fantastically insane nobody can match their dedication.
Work has been a handful the past couple of days, a lot of big things on my mind and can’t decide which one to finish first since I have to finish all of them. That aside I was that I managed to finish work in a timely manner, and run a few errands:
- Got a hair cut, but had to wait for some people ahead of me in the que. I didn’t mind since I had a motorcycle magazine with me.
- As soon as I got home, I changed into jeans and a t-shirt then went out on Robo in Full Gear, I didn’t feel like taking my camera with me since it was hot enough, but I was really enjoying myself. A 30 minute ride turned into an hour and a half ride and I loved it. The bike was operating perfectly!
- Went home, showered and went to my brothers house.
- I felt bad for my niece and nephew, they both were sick, had a fever, and a tummy ache. Its really frustrating when you can’t do anything to make them feel better. I missed them since I haven’t seen them in two weeks.
- After dinner we had a movie on but I managed to pass out and they continued, I slept a good hour before waking up which was good.
- Then came home and went straight to bed
It was a full and random day, there was a lot to do and with very little sleep I was running around doing a few things with family and friends, and then I was in a zombie state most of the day from my lack of sleep but somehow still moving along.
- Slept at 2:30 am and woke up at 5:30 am
- Drop off at airport around 7:30 am
- 8:30 am At family house to say hello..
- 9:30 am Picked up friend
- 10:00 am Avenues
- 10:35 am Breakfast
- 11:25 am Went for a Shave and Cut
- 12:45 pm Went home, we wanted to swim but the weather took a turn for the worse
- 1:15 pm Everybody was showing up for a late lunch
- 3:00 pm Lunch, and we were all pretty hungry
- Watched a the 2008 MTV Movie Awards (Ironman is the best, Megan Fox is hot, Liv Tyler is hot, women love Johnny Depp, Jack Black is hilarious)
- 3:45 pm We started watching Enemy of the State and its a damn good movie
- 4:55 pm Went to Rihab to check out a few games
- 5:30 pm Back Home Relaxing and fell asleep for a bit
- 6:10 pm Watched another movie with a friend
- 8:30 pm We went to another friends Dewaneya
- 9:10 pm Fell asleep in Dewaneya
- 11:20 pm Woke up and went home to continue my sleep, it was a ridiculous day
That felt like a very full Friday
I tend to like kids, especially the naughty ones, not the brats. I have this connection with my nephew since he is bit a naughty kid, I tend to think that he has followed in my foot steps. So we get a long very nicely and I can’t help finding him to be very funny. He tends to break a few things, have some chocolate and enjoy himself. I can’t get that angry at him, but I do tell him not to hit his sister. The best part is that I think he enjoys myself more then most people in the room.
When it comes to my niece its a totally different story, she is cutest little thing I have seen. I enjoy seeing her walking around and taking items which she finds interesting. For some reason she likes dragging my laptop bag even though its half her size. I think I only manage to get her interest when I’m eating Raspberry KDD Ice Cream, and I react right away when I hear Baba. I think she just says it and walks away, on her list I’m probably towards the bottom.